Fastener-setting machine.



k-F. LITTLEFIELD.

FASTENER SETTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, 1913.

Patented June 18, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. F. LI-TTLEFIELD.

' FASTENER SETTING MACHINE.

v APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, I9I 3. 1,269,622.

Patented June 18, 19x

2 $HEETS-SHEET 2.

Wvmvfmz Z r 7? UN 'Tf ITED STATES PAT E NT OFFICE.

AUGUSTINE F. LITTLEEIELD, 0F LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGN- MENTS, T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON', NEWJERSEY,

v 'A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

rAsrnNEn-snrrING MACHINE.

, Patented June 18, 1918.

Application filed February as, 1913. Serial No. 750,837.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTINE F.- LITTIiE- State of Massachusetts, haveinvented cer-.

tain Improvements in Fastener-Setting Machines, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a.specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating likeparts in the several figures.

This invention relates to machines for setting washers or similarperforated articles in combination with fastening devices such aseyelets or gromets. The, invention is herein shown as embodied in' amachine for setting gromets and washers in sheet material such asawnings, sails, etc.

' In machines of this class the attempt has been made heretofore tohandle washers separately, delivering them to the setting dies through araceway from a hopper in which they are placed in bulk. On account oftheir thinness, however, it has been found difficult to separate singlewashers in order to introduce them in the raceway. Ithas also beendifficult to prevent them from being jammed in the raceway byvoverriding each other, especially at bends in the raceway, and totransfer them satisfactorily from the raceway to the setting dies. Inaccordance with an important feature of the present invention thesedifiiculties are obviated by utilizing washers in the form of acontinuous strip.

The employment of washers or similar articles in this form its believedhas never before been attempted. In one of its aspects, therefore, thepresent invention consists broadly in the combination with settingdevices, of means for feeding a continuous perforated metallic stripthereto and means for severing from the strip the portion upon which itis desired that the setting dies should operate.

In machines of the type contemplated by this invention it is proposed tohandle the washers by mechanism of radically diflerent nature from theassorting and delivering mechanism. heretofore employed. For example, aholder or reel for a coil of washers in the strip may be substituted forthe hopper previously used, the raceway may be eliminated and the stripmay be advanced to position the endmost washer preparatory to thesetting operation by strip feeding mechanism, of simple construction andpositive operation. In the machine herein shown the strip is advanced toposition'the endmost washer between the setting dies and is not untilthen severed from. the strip. This is a desirable mode of operation inthat it eliminatesthe possibility of the washer being displaced.

Another feature of the machine lies in an improved form of feedingmechanism for the washer strips. As herein shown, one form of feedingmechanism comprises a slide arranged to reciprocate relatively to thesetting. dies and carrying a strip engaging wheel which is arranged tobe rotated at one point inthe path of the slide to advance the stripwhile it acts to hold the strip stationary with respect to the slideduring the re mainder of the cycle of the machine.

Another feature ofthe invention consists in mounting .the cuttingorsevering devices upon the-movable. feed slide. ,Among the advantagesincident to this construction are that the movement of the cutter may bereduced to aminimum and the severing of the washer at a position closelyadjacent to the setting dies is facilitated.

These. and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the ac.-companying drawings in which,-

Figure 1 is a view in perspective, partly in section, of the operatingparts of the machine, and I Fig. 2 is a view in perspective, partly insection, of the mechanism for feeding the washer strip. 1

The machine herein illustrated has a frame 2 with upper and lowerbranches. In the upper branch is adjustably mounted the stationaryupsetting die l which serves to roll over or clench the end of thegromet barrel when the latter is forced against it by the lower die. Thelower die is mounted for reciprocation in the lower branch of the frameand comprises part of the reciprocatory plunger 6. The latter carriesthe usual center spindle 8 which is normally held in an extendedposition and is adapted to be passed through the barrel of a gromet andthe perforation of a washer preliminarily to the setting operation. Atits lower end the plunger 6 is connected to toggle links 10 and 12,which are adapted to be straightened by the cam 18 acting through anintermediate link 16 carrying a cam roller 17. The link 16 is movedreversely and the toggle 10, 12 broken by a spring actuated plunger 22which acts upon a lever or radius rod 1 L pivoted at one end to theframe of the machine and at theother to the link 16. v

In the lower part of the frame 2 is journaled the driving shaft 20 whichcarries on one end a pulley and clutch of any desired or usualconstruction, not shown, and upon the other a cam disk having the cam 18formed upon its periphery.

Gromets or eyelets are supplied to the spindle 8 of the lower settingdie by a pivoted raceway 7 e mounted on the side of the machine notshown in the drawings and oscillated from the main shaft in any desiredmanner. The mechanism for moving the raceway is so timed as to swing theraceway outwardly when the lower die has been elevated sufficiently tocause the spindle 8 to enter the endmost gromet and in this movement thegromet'is drawnfrom the raceway and slides down into position on thesetting die.

The machine herein disclosed is provided with mechanism for feeding tothe setting dies a continuous washer strip, this mechanism, as alreadystated, forming an important feature of the invention. Preferably thewasher strip is presented to the machine in the form of a coil and areelis provided for the coil from which the strip is fed to the settingdies. At the rear part of the frame is provided a bracket arm 80 inwhich is rotatably mounted the reel 82. The washer strip is led from thebottom of the coil on the reel through an opening in the rear part ofthe frame and advanced by feeding mechanism which will be presentlydescribed, into line with the setting dies.

The frame 2 is provided with a horizontal guideway extending from frontto rear and leading from the reel into the Vicinity of the setting dies.In this guideway the carriage 30 is arranged for horizontalreciprocation. Movement of the carriage 30 is effected by the cam lever26 pivoted on a pin 24 to a portion of the frame and connected through alink 28 with'a'downwardly projecting ear on the bottom of the carriage.The cam lever 26 carries a cam roller which is arranged to run in a camtrack 27 formed in the inner side of the cam disk on the shaft 20 andthis cam track is so shaped as to-advance the carriage early in thecycle of the machine.

At its front end the carriage 30 carries a transverse spindle 32 uponwhich is rotatably mounted a feed wheel 34 having pins 36 for engagingsuccessive perforations in the washer strip. In the upper surface of thecarriage 30 is formed a guideway for the washer strip and the bottom ofthis guideway is formed by a slide 38 by which the feed wheel isactuated. The feed wheel has set in its side face a number of pins 37one corresponding to each of the feed pins 36 and pivotally mountedwithin the slide 38 is a pawl 39 adapted to act upon the pins 37 torotate the feed wheel. A leaf spring 35 is secured to the lower side ofthe carriage 30 and serves to maintain the feed wheel yieldingly in therequired position by ingaging the lower two pins 37 as shown in itits-rear end the slide 38 is provided with a projecting stem '40 whichpasses freely through a bore in the rear portion ofthe frame and isprovided on either side of the frame with an adjustable collar 4L2, 44.These collars are so set that when the carriage 30 is moved toward therear the collar 42 engages the frame and holds the slide 38 stationarywhile the carriage and feed wheel 3% are moved rearwardly relatively toit. During this movement, accordingly, the pawl 39acts upon one of thepins 37.to rotate the feed wheel and so advance the washer striprelatively to the carriage 30. WVhen the carriage 30 is advanced toposition the endmost washer in line with the setting dies the collar-4%engages the rear side of the frame and causes the slide 38 to be drawnrearwardly in the carriage 30. In this movement the pawl 39 yieldsupwardly and clicks over one of the pins 37 into the position shown inFig. 2, a spring 46 urging said pawl to the bottom of its groove in theslide 38. It will thus be seen that during each rearward movement of thecarriage 30 the washer strip is advanced one step and at each forwardmovement the second washer beyond that acted upon by the feed wheel ispositioned in line with the setting dies. During the rearward movementof the carriage a portion of the washer strip is moved rearwardly butthis movement is easily taken care of by the slack in the washer stripbetween the frame and the coil on the reel 82.

The means for severing the endmost washer from the strip will now bedescribed. The carriage 30 at its forward end is provided with ahardened shearing block 71 which is adjustably set in the carrier inorder that the distance between the feed wheel 3st and the point atwhich the strip is severed may be varied to accommodate washer strips ofdifferent dimensions. Cooperating with the stationary shearing block 71is the movable shearing blade which is adjustably mounted in the forwardend of a lever 50 pivotally mounted on a journal 52 in the carriage 30.An adjusting bolt 72 is pro vided for regulating the vertical positionof the shearing blade and adjustable clamping piece at the end of thelever 50 afford provision for a limited horizontal adjustment.

The knife lever 50 is normally maintained in an elevated position bymeans of a spring plunger '58 which acts against a projection 54: on thelever 50, while a set screw threaded into a lug 56 on the side of thecarriage limits its movement. The knife lever 50 is depressed to effectthe shearing operation by the cam lever 64 to which it is connected byavertical rod 62 adjustably connected to a block 60 pivoted to an armformed integrally with the knife lever and disposed at one side of thecarriage. The cam lever 6a in turn is oscillated by a cam roller whichruns inthe cam track 68 formed in the outer face of the cam disk on theshaft 20.

The machine is illustrated in Fig. l with its parts in their initialpositions. The raceway 7& is located with its end vertically over thespindle 8, the latter being in its lower position, and the carriage 30occupies itsrearmost position. WVhen the machine is set in motion, thecam disk is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 1 andthe parts of the machine operated as follows :-The cam lever 26 is firstswung forwardly and the carriage 3O advanced to present the endmostwasher of the strip in line with the spindle 8/ In this movement thewasher strip just clears'the end of the stationary setting die 4:.Almost immediately the cam 18 acts to straighten the tog-.

gle 10, 12 elevating the lower setting die and lifting the spindle 8which passes through the gromet barrel, the perforation in the workwhich has been presented above the gromet and the perforation in thewasher. The cam 68 then acts through the cam lever 64 to pull down thearm 50 and cause the blade 70 to shear the endmost washer from the'stripand immediately after this is done the carriage 30 is moved toward therear and away from the setting dies. Dur

ing'the severing operation the cam roller '17 has been running upon aconcentric portion of the cam 18 and the lower plunger has consequentlyremained at rest. After the carriage 30 has been withdrawn, however, thecam 18 imparts further upward movement to the lower setting die and inthis movement the gromet barrel is clenched upon the upper surface of awasher.

Itwill be imderstood that in operating the machine the work, which hasbeen'previously punched, is presentedby hand in position above'thespindle 8. A work table having a perforation through which the grometmaybe carried up by the lower setting die is usually provided tofacilitate the presentation of the work but as this may be of any usualor well-known construction it has been omitted from the drawings for thesake of clearness.

In the illustrated machine there is shown a washer strip having areduced portion bethat shown the shape and location of the severingknife would be correspondingly modified' Having thus described myinvention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a framecarrying a stationary upsetting die, a movable eyelet inserting die, araceway for delivering eyelets to the eyelet inserting die, a slidingcarrier arranged to reciprocate in a path approximately at right anglesto the path of the inserting die and having means for positivelyadvancing a perforated strip to bring its endmost perforation into linewith the inserting die, and means for severing the end of the strip, theinserting die being moved to pass an eyelet barrel through the piece sosevered and to clench the eyelet without transversely moving said piece.

2. A machine of the class described having, in combination, settingdies, a guideway leading toward said dies, strip feeding meanscomprising a wheel journaled below the guideway and having teeth forentering and positively feeding the strip, and a strip severing knifedisposed above the guideway and movable relatively thereto.

3. A machine of the class described having, in combination, cooperatingsetting dies means for severing a washer from a strip while the washeris located adjacent to the setting dies, means for withdrawing theforward end of the strip from the severing means, and means foractuating the dies to clench a gromet barrel upon the washer while theWasher remains in substantially the position in which it was severed.

4:. A machine of the class described having, in combination, cooperatingsetting dies, means for supplying a fastener to the dies, intermittentlyacting feeding means for a perforated strip arranged to enter successive perforations in the strip and advance the end of the strip intoalinement with the dies, and means for severing the end of the stripafter each feeding step. I

5. A machine of the class described having, in combination, relativelymovable set-' dies, said means including a member shaped to enter eachsuccessive perforation in the strip, and means for severing the end ofthe strip at a point in the path of movement of the strip.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, relativelymovable setting dies between which the work is presented, means forsupplying eyelets to one of the dies, means for feeding a perforatedmetallic strip along a. path intersecting that of the dies, and meansfor shearing the end of the strip at a point in the path of move ment ofthe strip, said means being so disposed as to leave the bur on the stripon the side toward the work.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, relativelymovable setting dies between which the work may be presented in asubstantially horizontal position, means for supplying eyelets to oneofthe dies, means for feeding a perforated strip into position above thework, and a shear blade movable to sever the end of the strip while thebody portion of the strip is held stationary.

8. A machine of the class described having, in combination, cooperatingsetting dies, means for presenting fasteners to the dies, a guideway forleading to the dies a perforated metallic strip having alternateenlarged portions adjacent the perforations and contracted portionsbetween the perforations, feeding means constructed and arranged toco-act with the enlarged portions of the strip and movable with thestrip in a path which, if extended, would intersect the path of thedies, and means arranged to insure severing the end of the strip at acontracted portion and approximately midway between two perforationsafter each feeding step.

9. A machine of the class described having, in combination, relativelymovable set ting dies, a reciprocating feeding member for a perforatedstrip, and a cutting blade carried by said feeding member and movablerelatively thereto.

10. A machine of the class described having, in combination, relativelymovable setting dies, a reciprocatory feeding member for a perforatedstrip, a cutter movable bodily and simultaneously with the feedingmember, and means for automatically moving the cutter in a path at anangle to the path of said reciprocatory member.

11. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a movablesetting die, a feeding member for a perforated strip movable laterallywith respect to the path of movement of the die, and a cutter arrangedfor movement relatively to the feeding member to sever the strip at a.predetermined point in the path of movement of the feeding member.

12. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a movablesetting die,

a feeding member for a perforated strip movable bodily laterally withrespect to the path of movement of thedie, a cutter movable toward andvfrom the die simultaneously with the feeding member, and meansforoperating the cutter at one extremity of the path of the feedingmember.

13. A machine of the classdescribed having, in combination, a settingdie, a cutter constructed and arranged for oscillatory cutting movementand to be moved bodily toward and from the die, and means foroscillating the cutter at a predetermined point in its path of bodilymovement.

14. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a settingdie, cooperating shearing blades movable bodily toward and from the die,and means for moving the blades relatively to one another when they arepositioned at a predetermined distance from the die. I

15. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a settingdie, a movable carriage, an oscillatory cutting blade mounted thereonand shaped to sever strip material, strip feeding means, and means foroscillating the cutting blade with respect to the carriage arranged tohave connection with the blade at all points in the path of thecarriage.

16. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a settingdie, a strip feeding member having a cutter mounted thereon, a cam leverfor reciprocating the feeding member, and a second cam lever arranged tooperate the cutter.

17. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a settingdie, a feeding member movable toward and from the die, a pin wheeljournaled in the feeding member, a reciprocatorypawl mounted in saidmember, and a stop arranged to rotate the pin whee]. one step throughthe pawl when the feeding member is moved in one direction.

18. A machine of the class described, having, in combination,cooperating settin dies, means for presenting fasteners to the ies, aguideway for leading to the dies a metallic strip of washers which isweakened transversely and perforated at regular intervals, feeding meansconstructed and arranged to intermittently engage the strip between theweakened portions and to feed it positively so that a fastener may beset through a portion located between the weakened portions, and meansto insure severing the end of the strip at a weakened portion andapproximately midway between two perforations after each feeding step.

19. A machine of the class described, having, in combination,cooperating setting dies, means for feeding toward said dies a metallicstrip having alternately perforated and contracted portions, saidfeeding means he ing constructed and arranged to act upon the perforatedportions only and to hold the strip at rest bet-ween the feeding stepswith a perforated portion in line with the dies, and means for operatingone of the dies.

20. A machine of the class described, having, in combination,cooperating setting dies, means for feeding a strip of washers toposition the endmost washer in alinement with the dies, and means forsevering said Washer from the strip after it has been so positioned,said feeding means being constructed and arranged to retract the forwardend of the strip after the severing operation.

21. A machine of the class described, having in combination, cooperatingsetting dies, means for conducting the end of a perforated strip intoalinement with and. be-

tween said dies, a movable slide30, means for adjusting the paththereof, and feeding means arranged to act on the strip by engaging itsperforations.

22. A machine of the class described, having in combination, cooperatingsetting dies, means for feeding a perforated strip to- Ward the dies,and a strip cutting device movable from inoperative to operativeposition in a direction parallel to the feeding movement of the strip.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

AUGUSTINE F. LITTLEFIELD.

Witnesses:

HERBERT W. KENWAY FRED W. Gumonn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of IPatents, Washington, D. G.

